I (Heart) Tammy Day - Feb. 14
Big West Analyst Tammy Blackburn, the driving force between The Big West's conference wide Tough Like Tammy initiative, had surgery today as she continues her tremendously brave battle against cancer and will not be able to be at courtside broadcasting the 2025 Hercules Tires Big West Basketball Championships, presented by Credit Union 1.
To support our friend and colleague as she recovers, The Big West has declared Friday, February 14 as I (Heart) TAMMY DAY (also known as Valentine’s Day). To show support for Tammy and her recovery, fans are asked to donate $25 to Tough Like Tammy at BigWest.org/TLT on Friday, February 14, 2025. The gift of $25 is a nod to Blackburn's playing days when she wore jersey number 25 at San Diego State.
All proceeds to the Tough Like Tammy campaign and I (Heart) Tammy Day benefit the Kay Yow Cancer Fund to aid in the fight against all cancers affecting women.
Tipping Off
National Notables
Multiple Big West teams are locking down in various statistical categories in this year’s defensive-minded run of play. Five squads are in the national top 10 in at least one facet of the game: Cal Poly, Hawai’i, Long Beach State, UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara.
Impressively, UC Santa Barbara leads the country in free throw percentage (.823). The Gauchos have recorded two perfect contests from the line and have twice missed on just one attempt in the game. UC Davis leads Division on in field goal percentage defense (32.9) with Hawai’i (33.8 - 4th) and UC Irvine (36.2 - 21st) also dotting the listings.
Bracket Watching
The Big West’s top eight teams will head to Henderson for the 2025 Hercules Tires Big West Women’s Basketball Championship, presented by Credit Union 1 and Hawai’i has guaranteed their place in the field. Defending champion UC Irvine and UC Davis enter the week on the precipice of joining the field, depending upon various results. As the week rolls into Saturday, more teams and scenarios are sure to come into play in the battle for the bid. For more event information or to secure your seats today, visit bigwest.org/2025.
What 2 Watch 4
First to clinch a spot in the field of the 2025 Hercules Tires Big West Women’s Basketball Championship, presented by Credit Union 1, Hawai’i (17-6, 11-2 BW) takes their 11-game winning streak to Long Beach State (12-10, 8-5 BW) on Thursday in The Goldmine before facing off with second-place team UC Irvine (16-6, 10-2 BW) on Saturday in one of the week’s games to watch. Also dotting the docket are key matchups between UC Davis and UC San Diego and UC Riverside and UC Santa Barbara as teams jockey for position in the standings.
Finally, CSUN heads to Cal Poly on Saturday for a Play 4 Kay game as the Mustangs raise money for the Tough Like Tammy campaign, which is now over a third of the way to the $15,000 overall goal.
All 10 Big West matchups can be seen on ESPN+.
Last Week, Today
The Rainbow Wahine closed out the week with a comeback win against UC Santa Barbara to seal at March trip to Henderson, Nev. Hawai’i is the first team to punch a postseason ticket after the two-win home week. UC Davis also took home a pair of victories, including a Play 4 Kay win, and UC Irvine downed UC San Diego in their lone game of the week to remain in second in the standings. The Tritons were joined by Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Bakersfield in a split decision, as the Roadrunners picked up their second win of the season.
CSUN dropped their Play 4 Kay game on Saturday but lead the team standings in monies raised for Tough Like Tammy as the Matadors now stand at $815 on the leaderboard.
Team Tidbits - Around the League
Cal Poly
The Mustangs fell to Big West leader Hawai’i on Thursday in their lone game of the week.
Annika Shah is leading the The Big West in three-point field goals per game (2.73), good for 23rd in the nation. Shah joined the 1,000 point club on Jan. 25, as the Mustangs took down Long Beach State on the road.
Cal Poly jumped up to second in Division I in three-point percentage defense, allowing opponents to just shoot 24.4 percent from beyond the arc. Four teams have been sub-.200 from distance, inclu Four teams have been sub-.200 from distance, including USC (1-for-10) and Stanford (3-for-17) during the non-conference segment.
Cal State Bakersfield
Cal State Bakersfield got a weekend split with junior Marley Langi putting up a career-high 23 points in Saturday’s first home win of the season, a 63-58 decision over UC Riverside. Langi was 5-of-8 from distance with five rebounds and four assists in the win.
Roadrunner Ary Dizon leads the conference in blocked shots, averaging 2.22 per game with 51 total. Dizon’s denials average is good for 17th in NCAA Division I. The redshirt senior from Tampa, Fla., has finished with at least one block a game on 20 out of 23 tries this season, recording multiples on 15 occasions.
First-year head coach Ari Wideman was tapped to lead the Roadrunners and holds the distinction of being the first Black, female head coach in the 50-plus year history of CSUB athletics. Wideman and fellow first year head coach Angie Ned of CSUN made history back on Jan. 11 in what is thought to be the first ever matchup of two Black female head women’s basketball coaches in the league.
Cal State Fullerton
The Titans duo of Eva Levingston and Aixchel Hernandez are both among the league’s rebounding leaders with Levingston supplying 8.27 per game for second in The Big West and Hernandez adding 7.50, good for fourth. Levingston paces the conference in double-doubles, with five on the year.
The Titans secured the program’s 13th 100-point game with a 100-40 win over Bethesda to close out non-conference play on Dec. 29, 2024. It was the first triple-digit scoring output since 2010.
CSUN
In CSUN’s four-point loss to Cal State Fullerton on Thursday, junior guard Kelly Tumlin posted a new career best of 21 points, inlcuding a 6-of-9 outing from the three-point line. Five triples came in the fourth quarter to keep the Matadors in the game.
Big West and UC Irvine alumna Angie Ned was tapped to lead the Matadors program in the spring of 2024 and the first-year head coach garnered back-to-back victories to open the tenure.
Hawai’i
The Rainbow Wahine are riding a league-high 11-game streak after downing Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara in last week’s homestand. Mia ‘Uhila scored a career-high 23, including 19 in the second half, to avenge a Bold Week loss to the Gauchos and secure a spot in The Big West Championship. The 19-point comeback after being down 26-7 is believed to be the second largest deficit erased in the Big West only trailing Long Beach State’s 23-point comeback against Harvard on Dec. 7, 2013.
Hawai’i’s defense has been stout all season, as the Rainbow Wahine allow just 52.7 points per game which is fifth in the nation. Holding opponents to 33.5 percent shooting stands in fourth in NCAA Division I.
On Dec. 16, the Rainbow Wahine routed Arkansas-Pine Bluff 56-15. The 15 points was the least amount UH has ever allowed against a Division I opponent, obliterating the previous mark of 31 by UTEP on Jan. 7, 1999. The last time the ‘Bows won by such wide a margin was nearly 24 years ago, when UH defeated Detroit, 97-53, on Dec. 18, 2000.
Long Beach State
LBSU split the week with a loss at UC Davis before a 88-65 win at CSUN. In the victorious effort Big West Player of the Week Savannah Tucker dropped a career-high 33 points while shooting 56 percent from the floor (10-of-18).
The senior form Fresno, Calif., paces The Big West in scoring at 17.23 points per game while playing a league-high 37.23 minutes per game, which stands in fourth nationally in time on the court. Rachel Loobie is the conference pacesetter in rebounds with 8.48 per game.
Earlier this season, Lovely Sonnier was named a Kay Yow Servant Leader Award winner, one of 14 student-athletes recognized across the country, and is wearing a special jersey patch this season. Along with serving as the team ambassador for The Big West’s Tough Like Tammy campaign, Sonnier volunteers at Miller Children’s Hospital, Los Altos Parks and Rec and Jefferson Elementary School in her free time.
LBSU picked up a 122-49 win over Bethesda on Dec. 30, the highest point tally in 37 years and the first three-digit output since 2006.
UC Davis
The Aggies won a pair of home games with Tova Sabel leading the way. In Thursday’s win over Long Beach State, the senior finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds for the double-double. Saturday, Sabel led the team with 14 points as head coach Jennifer Gross became the program’s leader with 252 victories.
Megan Norris leads The Big West in field goal percentage, connecting at a 45.6 percent clip. Defensively, UCD allows teams to connect on just 32.8 percent of their attempts from the field, which is second in the country.
UC Davis posted their first Power 4 win since 2021 by knocking off Arizona State, 57-50, on Dec. 15.
UC Irvine
The Anteaters secured a seven-point road win at UC San Diego in their lone action of the week. Junior Hunter Hernandez finished with a game-high tying 15 points with seven rebounds.
Summah Hanson connects at a Big West-best 90.0 percent from the free throw line, going 54-for-60 through 22 games. Déja Lee crossed the 1,000-point career mark in a Feb. 1 win at UC Davis.
UC Riverside
The Highlanders dropped a pair against UC San Diego and Cal State Bakersfield. UC Riverside held the five-point lead against the Roadrunners after Shelley Duchemin’s layup with 5:44 to play. However, CSUB scored the next 10 unanswered to gain the advantage which they would never relinquish.
UC San Diego
The Tritons secured a big win at UC Riverside on Thursday before falling to UC Irvine on Saturday, 56-49. Sophomore Sumayah Sugapong put in 20 points in the victorious effort with five steals
Sugapong leads The Big West in steals per game (2.54) with teammates Parker Montgomery and Sabrina Ma tied for second with 2.13 per game. As a team, UCSD averages 11.8 steals per night, 18th in the country.
UC Santa Barbara
UC Santa Barbara split their week, defeating Cal State Bakersfield at home before falling to the Rainbow Wahine on O’ahu. In Thursday’s win, Skylar Burke scored nine points in the fourth quarter to go along with two late-game steals. Burke also grabbed a game- and season-high 12 rebounds. The junior paced the team at UH as well, with 20 points, nine rebounds, five steals and four assists.
Jessica Grant is tied for The Big West lead in three-point field goal percentage, connecting at a rate of 40.2 percent (53-for-132). Alyssa Marin surpassed 1,000 career points back on Jan. 2 in a 10-point win over league-leading Hawai’i. and has recorded two 31-point games on the season.
The Gauchos lead the league and are first in NCAA Division I in free throw percentage at .817. Marin has made a total of 150 makes from the line, sixth in the country, while connecting at a 86.7 percent pace.
The Gauchos are under the direction of new head coach Renee Jimenez. Coming to UCSB from Division II Cal State San Marcos, Jimenez and the Cougars reached the DII Final Four a year ago.
The Big West + Spectrum SportsNet
The Big West announced a slate of 16 men’s and women’s basketball contests to air on Spectrum SportsNet during the 2024-25 season.
The package includes five women’s games featuring six squads, all set for the New Year.
Cal Poly hosted Hawai’i on Jan. 4, and the Rainbow Wahine took the contest, 62-50. The Mustangs proved victorious at Long Beach State on Jan. 25, 78-71, and head to UC Riverside on Feb. 22 in the Spectrum schedule. On March 1, UC Irvine plays at Long Beach State and March 8 has the Anteaters hosting UC Santa Barbara to round out the regular season on the home of the World Champion LA Dodgers.
All Spectrum SportsNet contests can also be seen live on ESPN+, and on-demand for 30 days. Check local listings for channel availability in your area. |
|